Obituaries – Emilio Lavazza (1932 – 2010)

Emilio Lavazza, the man who had made his family name synonymous with coffee, has died at the age of 78.

Known in the industry as Mr Espresso, he dedicated over 50 years of his life to Lavazza. From driving product development, to worldwide expansion of the family business which had previously struggled to recover Post-Second World War.

Thanks to his dedication, Lavazza Coffee became the world’s sixth largest roaster of coffee. Boasting around half of the coffee market in Italy, over 2000 employees and with sales over £1bn in over 90 countries worldwide in 2009.

Lavazza Coffee was founded in 1895 by Emilio’s grandfather Luigi. Emilio joined the company in 1955, around the time his father Beppe and his uncle Pericle purchased a new factory for the company, which is still the company headquarters today near Turin. Emilio worked as a door to door salesman, responsible for delivering coffee to the cafés and restaurants around Turin.

He retired as president of Lavazza Coffee only last year.

He died of a heart attack and is survived by his wife, Maria Teresa, son, Joseph, and daughter, Francesca.

Emilio Lavazza 1932-2010